For as long as I can recall, my family’s celebration of the Christmas / Yule holidays has involved certain foods. Most of these are traditional old country creations, recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. However one delicacy was added as the result of the north Oregon coast location in which my grandfather settled when arriving from Finland: crab. And not just any crab – Dungeness Crab (Metacarcinus magister / Cancer magister).
As with so many things in life, “it’s the little things” that so often make it all possible. And when it comes to the life in the the Earth’s oceans, the little things that in fact do make it all possible are the tiny crustaceans we commonly know as krill. However despite how readily to many of us the image may come to mind of these tiny creatures being essentially ubiquitous free-range whale chow, most of us actually don’t know nearly as much about them as we might think we do.